


Ghost

by DarthChocolate



Category: Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-18 12:00:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10616478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarthChocolate/pseuds/DarthChocolate
Summary: Fans have often wondered what inspired Hera to name her ship the Ghost. We know that Anakin Skywalker named his ship after his wife. I figured that Hera named her ship after someone as well. Here is the man behind the name.





	

“Irritation is an itchy foot that you can’t scratch because you don’t have that foot. I lost it after my foot became gangrene. That happened due my ship crashing. Now, I am stuck in a makeshift hospital underground with seven of my clone brothers and a dozen injured Twi’leks. Who is asinine idea was it to run a war campaign without enough supplies and troopers? Which is more annoying my gone foot or those idiots back in Coruscant? The new arrival of makeshift doctor is working on being stiff competition.”  
The clone trooper thought to himself as he lay down on a cot. With his head down and his eyes closed, he tried to pretend that he was sleeping. It would have worked better if his other foot wasn’t trying to scratch his nonexistent foot. The lime green Twi’lek wasn’t falling for it.   
“CT 8694 is not a name.” She reiterated. Juno Syndulla changed his bacta wraps. “What is your name?” On any other Republic planet given her extremely limit medical training, Juno wouldn’t even be considered an assistant to a nurse. However, on war torn Ryloth, she was one of the better doctors.  
“Well, I don’t have one.”   
“You are a human being. You need a name.” Juno responded. “Also, please stop kicking me.” He immediately stopped. “I could give you a name.” she offered.  
The trooper knew though she was clearly upset with him, she would still give him some nice name. He didn’t want one, nor did he deserve a good name.  
“I’m a clone.” He retorted back. “I don’t need one.”   
“Really?” She narrowed her eyes. “Your other clone brothers have names. Even the little droid has a name.” Juno threatens. “You either come up with a name, or I will.”  
He regarded his pale hands and phantom pains. “Ghost,” he replied. “You can call me Ghost.”  
“That is a lousy name, but I guess it will do for now.” She remarked.   
“I’m not you.” Ghost declared. “I’m not a fighter one day, a doctor the next day, a mechanic and then who knows what after that. This is my name and am I sticking with it.”  
The feather on her ears shook as she shrugged. “Fine. I’ll be back to check up on you in a few hours. Don’t take off your bandages and eat you soup.”  
“I rather eat a raw womp rat.” Ghost yelled while Juno walked away. ‘She was off doing some noble work,’ he thought.  
“You could be little nicer,” muttered his fellow trooper Owl.  
“I could, but I won’t.” With that, he closed his eyes.  
Later on, his grumpy attitude attracted an equally ill-tempered astromech droid. The droid kept ramming into each clone troopers’ cot. It kept strangely beeping nonstop. No one could understand him so he raced over and stole someone’s datapad. It typed the word “pilot”. Everyone pointed to Ghost.   
“I don’t care what you want, little trash can. It ain’t happening.” Ghost uttered.  
The little droid swiftly responded by throwing a bowl of soup at Ghost. Then it pulled out its’ electroshock prod to shock him. Ghost pushed back against his cot towards the wall. Thankfully, a little Twi’lek girl ran over to stop it.  
“It’s not his fault. It was the Y wing.” The little girl tried to reason with it. She gave the droid a hug. “It’s ok Chopper. You’re safe now.”  
Owl turned over to look at the girl. “What’s wrong with the droid?”  
“His Y wing got shot down. I was able to pull him out of the ship. I burnt my hands though.” She explained.  
“Get better gloves next time.” Ghost commented.  
The droid flung its’ metal hand at Ghost.   
“Chopper!” the girl scolded him. Then she went on. “His pilot didn’t make it.”  
“So it is venting out its’ angry at me.” Surprisingly Ghost wasn’t bothered by that. Most pilots and ship get completely destroyed in battle. The fortunate ones just get banged up or ejected. Chopper was frustrated that he wasn’t going to beat up someone. It stormed out of the room.  
“I’m sorry, sir.” The little girl bowed her head. “His parts aren’t aligned right. Some aren’t even the right ones. It makes him grumpy sometimes.”  
“Ghost nodded. “I can understand that.”  
There was a loud crashing noise from the other room. The little girl cringed. The she ran and screamed. “Chopper don’t! Whatever it is just don’t do it.” The following day, Ghost found out the little Twi’lek girl was Juno’s daughter Hera. Her skin was paler green than her mother. She smiled politely as she gave Ghost a bowl of food.  
“I hope you like it.” Hera said.  
“Well, it smells better that the last meal.” He groaned. “It only smells like rotten Ronto flesh.”  
Chopper beeped madly at him.  
“What did he say?”  
“He hopes that you like it too.” She lied.   
Ghost smirked. “Of course he said that.”  
A few months later, Hera was staring at Ghost like she wanted to ask him something. However she was just too shy to ask. After a few days, she had been sitting on the edge of his bed studying a datapad when he finally blurted out.  
“Just say it already, kid.”   
“Sir, what is it like to fly?”  
Ghost leaned back on the cot. “Flying is…” He grinned. “Amazing.”  
“Please tell me more. I so want to be a pilot even though my mother is a little concern.” Hera confessed.  
“You want to be a freight pilot?”  
She blushed. “No, I want to be a fighter pilot.”  
Ghost laughed. “No wonder your mother was a little concern.”  
“Please tell me anything about flying. I really want to learn.” She pleaded.   
“Calm down, kid.” He stated. “We have plenty of time. Since I am stuck in this hole in the ground, I have nothing better to do.”  
She was delighted. After that, Hera spent whatever free time she had listening to Ghost. He talked about different types of space crafts, maneuvers, protocols, procedures and how to work with a wingman. She was engulfed with every tiny detail.  
It wasn’t until the victory celebration for her father and Mace Windu’s battle that she got to sit in her first cockpit. While everyone was watching the parade, Hera dragged Ghost to one of the Y wings. Ghost was walking with clutches as he got use to his new prosthetic foot. He moaned and complained about it but strangely enough only Chopper was sympathetic. Hera was shaking with excitement. Her face lit up as he went over the controls with her.  
“Please tell me more.” Hera pleaded.   
“That is enough for today.” Ghost declared. She looked down sadly. “Don’t worry. It seems the brass doesn’t want a cripple in the front lines. I got assigned to do supply runs here. So you will be getting more lessons.”  
Hera stood up on the chair in the cockpit and gave him hug. Ghost gave her an awkward pat on the back. “I should bring you back to your mother.” He said. They headed back. Chopper wandered off to pick a fight with some astromech droid. Hera was going to stop him when all of a sudden she saw her father. She ran to him. Her father scooped her up into his arm for warm embrace. For a moment as Ghost watched them he wished he knew what a hug from a parent felt like. Cham Syndulla came over and introduced himself to Ghost.  
There was peace on Ryloth for a brief time. Then the hammer of The Empire fell. His clone brothers were behaving just like the Separatists had. When troopers had shot down providence leaders on the street, all the nearby Twi’lek flocked to Juno Syndulla for leadership.   
Ghost came too. The other Twi’leks would have blasted him if Juno hadn’t interceded. “It’s alright. He is with us.”  
“What are we going to do?” Someone asked.  
Juno took a deep breath. “We are going to retreat to the caves near the outskirts of the Tann providence.” She instructed. “Grab a blaster and whatever supplies you can carry. Once we reach the providence, we will send an encrypted message to the others. Now let’s get started.” Everyone moved out. “Thar,” Juno grabbed the female Twi’lek’s shoulder. “You are going to lead them out of the village.”  
“What are you going to do?” Thar asked.  
“I’ll create a diversion. Now go.”  
At once, she obeyed Juno. Ghost turned to her. “I can’t believe my brothers are doing this.”  
“Something must be wrong with them.” Juno reasoned. “It doesn’t matter now. Go protect the other.” She departed.   
“Where is my mother?” Hera cried out as they neared the edge of the village.   
“She went back to…” Ghost tried to tell her as the little girl ran passed him. Chopper trailed behind her. “Come back, you stupid kid.” His order fell on deaf ears.  
Hera scoured the terrain. Miraculously, she founded her mother. However, she found Juno lying on the ground dying. There were three clone troopers surrounding her. Hera shot one of them. Ghost dispatched the other two. Quickly Hera went and leaned over her mother. Juno whispered something to her. Then she died. Meanwhile, Chopper tapped into their comm. It beeped something.   
“What did the droid say?’ Ghost shook her shoulders.  
She kept looking down at her dead mother, but she did respond. “Chopper said there is a small convey of soldiers between the Twi’lek and the cave.” Hera was in agony. She couldn’t move.   
Ghost wasn’t going to lose her. He pulled Hera along. “I have an idea.” He guided them over to the V-19 Torrents. “You get you wish, kid.”  
Chopper started wailing.   
Ghost laughed. “I think I am finally starting to understand you, talking container. You think it is a bad idea. Guess what I don’t care.” Suddenly he kneeled down to Chopper and muttered. “She needs you, droid. She really needs you now.” Chopper complied and got in the V-19 Torrent with Hera.   
They flew to the convey and blasted it away before it could hit the group of Twi’leks. The enemy troopers had no air defense , which their attack easy to succeed.   
“Not bad, kid. Not bad at all.” Ghost praised her flying. “Landing should be no problem for you.” They landed near the caves.  
For two day, Hera barely ate and just kept holding on to Chopper. Finally Cham and his forces came. When he heard about his wife’s death, he immediately held his daughter tightly in his arms. He was about to cry until Cham noticed everyone watching him. He putted Hera down and pushed her aside.   
“Be strong.” He commanded.   
Hera obeyed even though she didn’t understand fully.  
Suddenly, a message came over the holo. It said. “Galactic Imperial citizens, it is of vital importance that you obey the orders of our governor for peace and order to be maintained. All Ryloth citizens are under a new curfew. Anyone that’s found rebelling against the Empire will be executed. All troopers are expected to obey.”  
Ghost felt his brain being lit on fire. His hands started to shake as he pulled up his blaster at Cham. Any thought against obeying burned his mind. Juno was right. There was something wrong with the clone troopers.  
Hera stepped in front of her father. Ghost looked down and told her. “Keep soaring, Hera.” He was human being with a name. A man makes his own decision. While he still could, he yanked up his blaster to his forehead. Then he pulled the trigger. 

 

Years later, Hera walks on aboard her starship for the first time. Ghost asked her. “What are you going to call it?”  
“Ghost.”


End file.
